


Trick R Pete

by ChicagosLights



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy
Genre: Blood and Gore, Death, Halloween, M/M, Trick R Treat au, brief romance, kind of a fluffy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:07:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27306037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChicagosLights/pseuds/ChicagosLights
Summary: A Trick R Treat AU with a twist
Relationships: Patrick Stump/Pete Wentz, minor Patrick Stump/Gerard Way
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: Trick Or Pete 2020





	Trick R Pete

Halloween in Warren Valley is what the Macy’s Day Parade is to New York City, only times it by ten. To say the small Ohio town went all out was an understatement, to even _think_ someone might hate Halloween wasn’t imaginable (not that there weren’t a few Halloween scrooges here and there). There were some people though that were on the fence; it wasn’t that they didn’t like Halloween but it was that they just didn’t like the crowds, maybe the costumes that were labeled “sexy” were just a bit much, or maybe they just wanted to be alone for the rest of the night. Patrick Stump’s problem was that he had blindly agreed to fly out to meet with his boyfriend of only a few weeks, not the brightest idea right? Well, Patrick Stump had decided that being 18 meant that he knew what was good or not so with the help of his older brother they’d saved up to fly him to Ohio. 

Now Patrick sat on the steps of the closed library watching the Halloween-ers go about their night laughing and showing each other their bags of candy, beside him lay a twisted warped halo along with fake white wings and the gold eyeliner was running down his cheeks. How exactly had everything turned out like this? Well, that was easy, Patrick had shown up 3 days ago before Halloween and Gerard had been a great boyfriend but he kept making excuses to leave Patrick alone; who knew it would be his little 6-year-old brother to rat him out? 

_“How come you’re not with Gerard and Franky?” Patrick had looked up from his notebook to the puzzled little face of Mikey_

_“I...who’s Franky?” Patrick knew though, he could feel the sick creeping feeling twisting his stomach around_

_“He’s Gerard’s friend, he and Gerard kiss like you do with Gee. Sometimes they go to Gee’s bedroom and I’m not allowed to come in, there’s funny noises in there” Mikey wrinkled his face but went back to watching cartoons “can we have pizza, Patrick?”_

_“Yeah” Patrick had pulled out his phone and sent a text to Gerard’s roommate Ray “hey, Ray’s gonna come watch you until Gerard gets back okay? I’m going to go”_

_“Go? Gee’s gonna be sad” Mikey was frowning and Patrick was glad the kid knew nothing of cheaters yet_

_“He’ll be fine. Ray will get you pizza, okay?”_

That had been a few hours ago, just before the sunset, Patrick’s phone had been blowing up since then but had finally gone dead silent around 8; good, maybe the asshole had given up on trying to find him and went off with whoever Frank was. He let out a shuddering breath and wiped at his face with his sleeve, ugh he needed to find some makeup wipes or something. Lucky for Patrick there was still a Dollar Tree open; the cashier was a tired-looking girl, probably a college student, and when Patrick walked up she rang up his packet of face wipes and stepped around the counter. 

“Here, let me help clean your face” he didn’t argue, just tried not crying as she wiped away the eyeliner Gerard had put on “I’m gonna take a wild guess, break up?” 

Now the tears were bubbling over again “cheated on me” he croaked out. 

The girl’s face twisted up into pity and anger “ugh, I’ve been there. I’m sorry to hear that though, you gonna be okay?” 

“Yeah I um…” Patrick faltered and chewed on his lip before slowly shaking his head “actually...I’m not from Ohio, I’m from Chicago” 

Her eyes widened before she scowled viciously “oh my god are you kidding? So not only did this girl cheat on you but she just dropped your ass in a state you’re not even from?” 

“He actually” 

“Same difference, that is so fucked” she finished cleaning his eyes before tossing the wipes away “is there anyone I can call or were you staying at his place? Also how old are you by the way, just to make sure I don’t need to kick ass” 

That got a laugh out of the sad boy “eighteen, he’s nineteen. And um, I was at his place, I don’t have anywhere now” 

She nodded seeming to consider something “okay so this is obviously really weird but I’ve got a place, my sister and her friends own it. If you’re okay with it you can crash on the couch and we can figure out some way to get you home” 

“I-no you don’t have to do that, I’ve got, I’ve got a few dollars I can try and…” the look she was giving him made him realize that wasn’t going to even get the dirt cheapest hotel room “you sure?” 

“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t sure. I do have to check with my sister but if not I know we can get you a hotel room at least. Do you have anywhere to be right now?” 

Patrick thought about it and shook his head “uh, no, I was supposed to go trick-or-treating with his little brother but-” 

“Patrick?” 

He blinked and looked over to see Ray wearing what looked like a werewolf costume and Mikey with grey face paint meant to look like a unicorn zombie from the fake “missing skin” look and the broken horn in the center of Mikey’s head.

“Oh you know Ray?” the girl looked between them then fixed him with a glare “oh, so this is the sweet guy that Gerard’s been cheating on huh?” 

Ray paled a little but nodded “yeah um..yeah. I was wondering if you were still in town or not, I was worried”

“I don’t have anywhere else to go” he responded hollowly, Mikey was barely interested in the conversation, tugging on Ray’s arm whining about leaving already “what'd you guys need?” 

“A bag, Gerard uh-it’s not important. Are you going to be staying at Grace’s place?” 

Okay so her name was Grace, cool “if her sister’s okay with it” 

Grace clapped her hands suddenly making both boys jump “hey! Since you’re here and Patrick was going to trick-or-treat anyway, why not just do that still? Ray knows where me and Layla-my sister by the way, he knows where we live. It’ll give you something to do, no one should be bummed out on Halloween” 

Now Patrick was honestly confused, this night was really starting to switch faster than the winds of the Midwest itself. The thing was though was that yes, he had really been looking forward to spending Halloween with his boyfriend and little brother, he’d been hoping to have a nice time and actually enjoying Halloween as a nearly adult. So as he glanced between Grace with her expectant look and over at Ray helping Mikey choose a bag, he decided that Grace was right, why waste Halloween crying over some asshole when he could have a nice night? 

“Just have him drive you over, it’ll be good. I’ve got something I have to get done tonight actually so me and my sisters might be home late. Have a great night Patrick” Grace checked up the bag and the trio headed out. 

“You’re gonna trick-or-treat with us, Patrick?” Mikey peered up at him with squinted eyes “I thought you were gonna go home?”

“He will later, he’s hanging out with us right now” Ray patted Mikey’s head and adjusted the little arrow sticking out of his hair “ready to get all kinds of candy tonight?” 

“Yeah! I’m gonna get the most” he beamed up at both boys before grabbing Ray’s hand. 

So went the rest of the night, Ray made sure they avoided the central town since there was a pretty wild and not-so-safe-for-work environment going on, regardless the houses they hit had amazing decorations and Mikey’s bag was already getting too heavy to hold. They took a break at a small park in town, Mikey spun around the little merry-go-round shouting “look at me! Look what I’m doing! Look!” while Ray nodded calling back “we see!” 

“I’m glad you came with us after all, Mikey was pretty sad when you weren’t coming” Ray winced a little at his words then sighed “that sounded pretty guilt trippish, sorry”

“It’s fine, he’s a nice kid, I hope he never turns out like his brother” Patrick made sure there was acid in his tone, Ray just nodded solemnly beside him “speaking of, where is he?” 

“Um…” Ray looked nervous now and Patrick felt his stomach grow cold 

“Ray if he’s with whoever Frank is I don’t care-” 

“He dumped Frank. He uh-” Ray laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck “he’s actually looking for you? That’s why it’s just me and Mikey, I kinda lied and said I’d try and look for you too but I knew Mikey really wanted to go trick or treating, and really I figured you wouldn't want to see him” 

Patrick glared at a rocking horse that just stared back with his stupid painted face “you’re right, I don’t want anything to do with him. Ready to move on?” 

“Huh? Oh yeah, Mikey come on” 

*

At a large house that apparently belonged to a rather rich professor in the town Ray had met some other friends who were also trick-or-treating with their little siblings, the trio became a group of 8 then as they decided to head out for the rest of the night together. Mikey ended up getting along with the two other little kids, a fish monster and a pink lemur, so Ray was able to chat with his friends, and Patrick at least managed to talk to one of them; Jake was his name and so far him and Patrick were hitting it off okay until they’d walked by a dirt road leading towards the ever-growing darkness. 

“Hey if you’re still around tomorrow you should check out that path” he grinned at the younger boy making Patrick shrink a little as he looked at it “but don’t go alone, I could walk with you if you’d like” 

“Trying to bone Ray’s friend at a gravesite Jake? That’s so classy” Lana, the big sister to Kyle the fish monster, laughed and shoved him into Patrick “ignore him, there’s nothing dangerous there” 

Jake’s face was red but he laughed and shoved her back “hey! Just ‘cause I meet cute guys doesn’t mean I want to bone them all the time” 

“Knock it off” Cody made up the last college student, he wasn’t too talkative from what Patrick could tell but he looked pretty annoyed “Patrick isn’t from around here, he wouldn’t know anything anyway so saying ‘hey run off this way’ could get him hurt” 

“ _Okay_ assholes stop talking about my friend in the third person please” Ray moved closer to Patrick and patted his shoulder apologetically “just ignore Jake, he’s just messing with you, _rudely_ I might add”

Yeah, Patrick had gathered that but what did they mean by gravesite? He must’ve been either frowning or looking curious because Cody stopped walking and told everyone to go ahead while he sat by Patrick on the side of the road. Obviously not Patrick’s brightest idea to just stay with a stranger but so far he didn’t seem to be having good ideas anyway. 

“I didn’t want to scare the kids, that old story scares almost anyone around here anyway. Alright so that graveyard thing, you’re probably wondering what we’re talking about right?” 

Patrick shrugged slightly “I mean, everyone has graveyards. What makes this one so special?” 

Cody laughed at that, a rather unkind bitter one “when I tell you why you’re gonna regret saying that. So back in the seventies, there was this group of families around Warren Valley, their kids were super mentally disturbed and fucked up and it was said around town that the parents _hated_ their kids so much. So one day the kids were all promised by their parents they were going to a Halloween party, it was supposed to be fun and they’d feel like they belonged. So dressing them up in costumes these eight children went on a bus to head to this supposed ‘party’” 

“That never happened though you can guess, the parents paid off this bus driver to take their kids' miles and miles out of town to pretty much kill them. One of the kids realized it though and they tried to take over the bus and save themselves, unfortunately, they ended up driving the bus right into a lake in a quarry, the only one who survived was the bus driver and he refused any responsibility for the kids’ death. If you believe in ghosts then supposedly if you go down to the lake at night with sacrifices of jack-o-lanterns then the kids will be appeased, but if you go down there to make fun of their deaths they rip you apart and eat you” 

The whole time Cody was retelling this story Patrick was feeling sick, around them the road seemed to get quieter and colder, when he finally finished it felt like all noise had been canceled out. Cody however lost the grin he’d had while telling it when he noticed how pale-well paler than usual-Patrick was. 

“Hey come on, it’s just a ghost story. I mean, yea some kids died unfortunately but their ghosts don’t kill anyone. I’m sorry, I knew it was going to scare you but I knew Jake would try and pull some shitty prank on you. Come on, let’s catch back up to them” he stood and helped Patrick up

They switched topics then, Cody asking about Chicago to help Patrick’s mind get off the scary ghost kid story, but when they rounded the street corner Patrick felt his stomach roll seeing who was talking to Ray and the others. A very pissed off plastic-horned and fake-tailed demon was gesturing around him wildly, from the distance it looked like he might have been bleeding around his eyes but Patrick suspected it was runny eyeshadow. 

“Geez, what’s got Gerard so pissed?” Cody glanced at Patrick and something seemed to click “um...are you and Ray a thing?” 

  
“What? no-Gerard cheated on me” might as well get to the point instead of telling the story “that’s why I’m here, I was supposed to spend Halloween with him but he cheated on me and has been for a while apparently so I’ve been with Ray today” 

“Cripes” Cody frowned and looked back at them before patting Patrick’s shoulder “hey, head down straight and take a right, I’ll try and discreetly send Ray or someone over to chill with you. Let me handle this” 

“Um, okay” Patrick hesitated but Cody was already walking away so Patrick hurried up the road as instructed.

Several trick-or-treaters gave him strange looks as he ran by, it probably was strange seeing someone dressed as an angel running like he was being hunted down; when Patrick assumed he’d reached the correct right he was supposed to take he turned it and stopped since it was just...a really creepy empty-looking house? He squinted at it as if there was some kind of secret he was supposed to be seeing since...it was just old, the fence around it falling down and as far as he could tell no one had lived there for years probably. Why hadn’t this house been taken down yet? Patrick’s thoughts were interrupted when he saw the door creaking open and his heart leapt up into his throat, a little figure walked out and shut the door behind him before walking down the steps. 

They had a burlap sack with stitches and button eyes over their head, orange footie PJs with patches and in one hand a burlap sack and in the other a pumpkin lollipop with a bite taken out of it. The little..scarecrow? Yeah, Patrick figured that was it, the little scarecrow pushed open the gate to their home before closing it and then stopping upon seeing Patrick, they tilted their head a little before slowly waving. Feeling stupid Patrick waved back before watching the kid start walking down the street-wait a second. 

“Hang on!” Patrick called and the kid did, turning around with their head tilted “hey, aren’t you too young to be trick-or-treating on your own? Where’re your parents?” 

The little scarecrow just..stared at him then, it was a little unnerving, to be honest and when he started walking towards Patrick he nearly considered booking it back up the road. However the little scarecrow stopped in front of the fence and Patrick watched him carve into the old fence **_Sam._ **Patrick frowned and looked down at the kid-oh wait, their name was probably Sam. 

“Is that your name?” the little scarecrow nodded, then pointed the lollipop at Patrick then at himself “um...you’re a boy?” 

Another nod before the kid suddenly walked too quickly for Patrick to register and grabbed his hand, the older boy jumped and stared confused; what the hell was going on? This house looked derelict as hell and when Sam had left there weren’t even any lights on, had he actually snuck out without permission? He looked down again and opened his mouth to ask but closed it, since Sam had written his name in the fence Patrick had a feeling this kid couldn’t talk…

“Patrick!” he jumped a little and looked behind him to see Ray running over carrying Mikey, when he stopped he frowned and stared at Sam “uh, what’s with the kid?” 

“Oh um, this is Sam” _he walked out of this creepy ass derelict house and grabbed my hand and I feel like this is the Omen level of creepiness_ “I ran into his mom and him, she asked me if I could take him trick-or-treating for the rest of the night. She gave me her number and address so I can take him home whenever he gets tired” 

“Oh uh...cool” Ray looked a little unnerved at that (not that Patrick blamed him) and set Mikey down “well hi Sam, I’m Ray and this is Mikey. Your costume is really cool, are you a scarecrow?” 

Sam just nodded then stared at Mikey, Mikey easily sized himself up and glared at him. 

“Sam’s really shy” Patrick intervened before what was most likely going to be Mikey being rude “let’s go have a fun night, okay?” 

Mikey seemed to like this idea more and nearly ran away from Ray’s side, glancing at Sam the kid was looking up at him as well and gently tugged his hand forward. 

“So um, what happened with your friends?” Patrick asked once they’d ended up in a more lively part of the neighborhood, Ray was buying Mikey and Sam caramel apples at a stand. 

“When Cody showed up and I just left it to him, I think Jake and Lana probably went home since the kids were looking pretty tired” Ray looked a little uncomfortable when Sam shoved the apple under his mask without removing it “um, anyway if you're wondering what happened Gerard found us because we walked by Frank’s house. I don’t know what Cody said but I think it’s bought us time that we can finish Halloween night with no hitches” 

“I can’t believe he actually thinks I’ll go back to him” Patrick laughed bitterly and shook his head “whatever, to be honest, I’m kinda scared since Cody told me that story” 

Ray winced at that “sorry, it’s a pretty gruesome story, right? Ten people killed-”

“Ten?” Patrick almost stopped walking but Sam had a pretty tight grip for a kid and jerked him forward “I-Cody said it was eight kids” 

“Well I mean, yeah there were eight kids, elementary school students. There were two more though, college students” Ray looked nervously around him now and Patrick almost thought he saw some shadows moving behind a house “they died too but people don’t talk about them, after all when you get to college you don’t count as a kid anymore. Besides I’m sure Cody told you but people turned it into a ghost story, what’s scarier is the truth or just ghost kids?” 

That was certainly food for thought, wasn’t it? 

Sam tugged on Patrick’s arm suddenly and the group stopped, he knelt to talk to him better “hey bud, what’s up? Getting tired?” 

Apparently yes because suddenly Sam jumped and wrapped his arms around Patrick’s neck, the older boy gagged a little as the arms tightened too much but loosened when he finally picked Sam up; Ray laughed at the embarrassed look on Patrick’s face and continued walking.

“He’s a cutie, isn’t he? I hope his mom’s okay that we’re walking so deep into town” Ray padded Sma’s head “how about you Mikes? Tired yet?” 

“My feet are sore” was all he said, he gave Ray puppy eyes clearly wanting to be carried too.

Ray rolled his eyes but scooped him up anyway as they neared a completely Halloween decked out house “jeez, you think the spirit of Halloween lives here?” 

“Maybe” Patrick shifted Sam around to try and open the gate but stopped when he noticed a ghost decoration violently moving around “uh-what the heck?” 

Both boys backed away as the thing fell, the sheet that had been used now wriggled around until it was thrown and a rather pissed off looking woman in a robot costume stood there. 

“Oh um, we’re sorry miss we didn’t know you were done for the night” Ray smiled apologetically only to have it returned with a sneer “well cripes who crapped on your porch?” 

“Ray!” Patrick backed away a little more since really this lady looked a little unhinged “let’s just go, okay?” 

“Yea, fine” Ray glared one last time at the lady

As they turned away though Patrick cried out in pain and nearly dropped Sam as something was lobbed at his head, that something rolled by him and turned out to be a fake pumpkin but it seemed pretty heavy. 

“Patrick! What is your problem lady?!” Ray shouted, that didn’t help Patrick’s head. 

Sam had wriggled out of Patrick’s arms and looked at the older boy now, with the mask on Patrick couldn’t quite tell what he was thinking but the tiny gloved hand reached up to touch his head before the kid seemed to square his shoulders and look towards the woman. It was hard to see since she’d knocked Patrick’s glasses off but now a guy was standing by the gate while the woman was standing on the porch sneering every now and then whenever the guy would apologize. 

“I don’t care, she threw something at my friend!”

“I know, I know! Please just don’t-look you’ve got kids-”

“That’s exactly why I should call someone!” now the guy was backing away clearly at a loss for any more excuses “you better hope Patrick isn’t bleeding because if he is you’re going to pay for the stitches” 

Well Christ, this Halloween was turning out great wasn’t it? Patrick stood on shaky legs and reached down to take Sam’s hand; while the lady was heckling the group as they walked away and unnecessarily destroying all the decorations Patrick noticed that the little scarecrow seemed to be giving off almost an angry aura. 

* * *

Ray had texted Jake to see if he could pick them up, there wasn’t any blood thankfully but Patrick’s head was spinning still. Mikey had offered him countless different candies and little treats to make him feel better, Patrick had politely declined them all and when Jake had pulled up in his Saturn he didn’t realize that Sam was no longer with them until they pulled up into Jake’s driveway. Panic should have kicked in right? Sam was a kid all alone on Halloween night and Patrick had just abandoned him-well wait, as he thought about it while sitting in the kitchen while Ray held an ice pack to his head he...he’d been holding Sam’s hand, so when had Sam let go? How had he not noticed-why hadn’t _Ray_ said anything? 

“I called Layla’s house, I guess they’re still out. Are you feeling okay?” Jake walked back into the kitchen then frowned “hey who was that little kid by the way? I really hope that was his brother that walked off with him” 

What? 

Ray frowned and looked at Patrick “I thought it was? I mean I assumed it was because Sam took his hand”

“It was yeah” Patrick felt sick lying, fuck what if Sam had just been kidnapped by some creep? “Look I want some air, thank you for coming to get us” 

“No problem, are you sure you should be moving around though?” 

“Yea I’m good” Patrick however almost tripped as he stood up but hurried outside before either Ray or Jake could follow. 

It was a little blinding admittedly since Jake’s family had strung up several Halloween lights painting the porch oranger than a pumpkin, still Patrick sat down anyway on the front steps and took in a shaky breath; he hadn’t seen anyone near them, what were Jake and Ray talking about even? Maybe his head had hurt too much for him to even see anyone though, it still smarted now even when he turned his head to look around the street. Speaking of, it was almost midnight now, Ray should probably get Mikey home and to bed; Patrick sighed and stood up to head back inside, unfortunately for him though tonight wasn’t just done with the bad luck yet as a car he recognized pulled up with screeching tires. 

_Fuck_ he thought and turned to run inside, somehow though Gerard was there and grabbed his arm.

“Where the hell have you been all night?! You don’t even know this town and you just ran off, Ray said you were with some girls and then from Cody I hear that you got hit in the head? What were you thinking of running away from me?” Gerard’s hold on his arms was painful, did this asshole really have the nerve to say that?

“Get the fuck off me!” Patrick made sure to scream, the hoped effect worked as Jake and Ray ran out to see what was going on. 

Jake shoved Gerard away from him and stood between them “what do you think you’re doing here Gerard? How’d you even know he was here”

“You’re acting like I’m going to kill him” Gerard sneered and shoved Jake out of the way trying to grab Patrick again, Ray however pulled the shorter boy closer to him “wha-stop acting ridiculous! You leave with my little bro and tell me Patrick’s with some girls and now I’m thinking you were lying” 

“You cheated on him, he doesn’t want you anywhere near him and frankly I don’t blame him. How did you even find us?” Ray put himself between Patrick and Gerard now

Gerard scowled and actually stomped his foot “Cody took me around town saying that he’d help me find Patrick, I guess he didn’t realize I could see his phone because I saw _you_ tell him that Patrick had been attacked by some crazy lady. Oh and newsflash, she’s been found _dead”_

“ _What?”_ Patrick and Ray said in unison, Jake just stood there dumbfounded and slack-jawed.

“Yeah and lucky for you two I got pulled over and made up a story that my boyfriend had an accident while trick-or-treating and I was on my way to see him. So a thank you for not letting you get accused of murder would be nice” Gerard stupidly again reached for Patrick only for Jake to grab his arm “let go fo me you-”

“Get off my property. Take your little brother home or have Ray do it, either way get off my porch or I’m gonna tell the cops it was you” Jake snapped

Gerard’s eyes widened and he backed up a step, turning to stare at Patrick with disbelief and-the _nerve_ he had-betrayal “are you-do you hear this? Do you see what’s going on? God-look I know what I did was _wrong_ but they’re acting like I’m going to hurt you!” 

“Well considering the shit you said to me before I met up with him again I’m not so sure I want you near him” Ray said coldly

The look of panic on Gerard’s face made Patrick’s already over-working fight or flight turn to _fly off the planet_ “what is he talking about?” 

“Nothing! I’d never hurt you, Patrick, look let’s just go back to my place okay? We can watch movies and eat candy, that’s nice right?” The smile he gave wasn’t convincing and looked like a poorly done jack-o-lantern. 

“No actually, it doesn’t. I’m going to have some fun at the carnival while it’s still going on, you should take Mikey home or have Ray do it, either way Gerard when I said we were done I _meant_ it” 

Patrick didn’t stick around to even hear a reply, he headed back inside to get Mikey’s candy bag and wake up the sleeping kid. Gerard had gone to stand by his car, Jake was still standing on his porch now with a stance of “I dare you to come back here” and Ray looked deflated on the porch swing. 

“Gee!” Mikey smiled up at him sleepily and held out his arms for a hug, Patrick glared when Gerard seemed disinterested but his brother knelt anyway “we got lotsa candy” 

“That’s great Mikes. Say goodbye to Patrick” Gerard responded stiffly as he buckled Mikey into his car seat 

  
“Bye-bye Patrick!” the little kid waved before immediately passing out again. 

Gerard paused before shutting the driver’s door “you’re making a big mistake, Patrick. Why can’t you just forgive me” 

“Get in your fucking car and leave” Patrick was _done_ with this bullshit 

Apparently, Gerard wasn’t “this isn’t over Patrick, we’re gonna talk about this” 

Patrick scowled and hurried back up the porch, as dramatically as he could he threw his angel wings off behind him and stomped into the house; it wasn’t until the car was gone that he hurried back out to retrieve them but Jake had already grabbed them. 

“I can drop you guys off at town if you want” 

“I don’t know if we should since apparently there’s been a murder” Ray glanced around them then as if the shadows held the murderer “but um, would that be cool with you Patrick? I think Gerard needs to chill out for a bit so I’d rather not go home yet” 

“Yeah no, yea let’s go out for a bit longer” Patrick took his wings and slipped them back on “thanks for the offer Jake” 

“No problem” 

The carnival was still in full swing though now there were noticeably more police cars, Patrick felt hesitant then as Jake pulled to the side of the street; Ray however seemed pretty existed now and so Patrick followed with another thanks to Jake and in return the guy handed Patrick a slip of paper. Great, now it was awkward, thanks Jake; Patrick hurried to catch up to Ray and found him grabbing some funnel cake. 

“Hey if it’s cool can we check out the parade soon? It’s always crazy with fire and everything” Ray asked through a mouthful of cake

Patrick laughed and shook his head “yeah, of course, that’d be cool” 

The parade, sure enough, was as wild as Patrick thought it would be; fire, outrageous costumes, stilted costumed people, drummers and dancers, the town really was going all out for Halloween. Apparently enough so that when Patrick went to get some caramel apples a new crew stopped him for a quick interview.

“Is the town always like this?” the lady asked, shoving the mic a little too close to his face

“Oh uh-I don’t know really? I just came out here to visit some friends. But it’s really beautiful and wild, right? All the Halloween stuff, everyone’s really decking out their yards you’d almost think it was Christmas in a big city”

The woman nodded smiling but it looked sort of forced, probably because people were too loud and trying to get in front of Patrick “visiting friends huh? Quite the holiday to do that! Where’re you from?” 

“Chicago. Would you like to move a little bit away?” 

She looked relieved at that and tapped the camera man’s shoulder to signal to turn the camera off “oh my god _yes_ that’d be great, do you know any better shots? We want to still get the festival in the background” 

“Um-yeah this way”

It was complete horse shit but somehow Patrick led them to a perfect street where the festival hadn’t spilled out onto it and they’d be able to continue the interview. 

“Perfect, if it’s alright…” 

  
“Patrick, Stump” 

She nodded smiling more relaxed now “alright, I’m Angela. if it’s okay Patrick since I don’t have to worry about anyone drunk or stupid trying to break the camera can we ask some more questions?” 

“Sure, I don’t mind” contrary to his usual anxiety, besides this seemed fun

“Awesome okay ready Hudson…? Hello again, we have a visitor to the town of Warren Valley with us, Patrick what’s your Halloween night been like?” 

Oh where to start, crazy ex-boyfriend? The random scarecrow kid he was wondering if was a ghost? The lady that attacked him or the fact she was murdered? 

“It’s been pretty chill for the most part, went out trick-or-treating with my friend’s roommates little brother. It’s really sweet seeing all the candy the kids can get, I bet he’ll have a sugar rush for a month” 

Angela nodded “sounds like a perfect night for kids, but what about the adults or teens? Thoughts?” 

“Well I’m sure there’s something for everyone at the festival, I’m more of a reserved person I’ll admit but my friend and I wanted to spend the rest of the night out instead of inside. So far the festival seems almost like a Halloween themed carnival” 

“The parade seems a little dangerous don’t you think? I’ve seen a few stilt walkers blowing fire” 

Patrick frowned and shrugged “well no, I think it’s alright. Most of the people walking on stilts aren’t blowing fire and are waving or tossing candy to people. The fire tricks are cool of course but I don’t think there’s any severe danger” 

“Fair enough, well have you heard about-” 

“Patrick!” Ray almost knocked him over as he ran up to him “hey, there you are! You were gone too long and I got worried” 

“I’m fine” Patrick laughed and gestured to Angel and her cameraman “I’m just doing an interview” 

“Well hi, I’m Ray” 

“Angela, you must be the friend Patrick mentioned. Is Halloween always like this in town?” guess the spotlight had switched to Ray now

“Yep, we love our Halloween, the Ferris wheel is new this year but the town’s hoping we can have that year-round now” 

“I see, well it seems to be a big hit based on the line Hudson and I say. Either that or everyone was drunk which I’m sure they were. Hey maybe the two of you can answer this, you especially Ray, have you heard about the werewolves?” 

“The only one I have is him” Patrick elbowed Ray’s arm making his friend laugh and shove him a little “but no I haven’t heard that” 

Ray laughed again and shook his head “the whole werewolf story si so stupid. It comes back up every Halloween someone sees a dog loose or a coyote in town, besides me and the hundreds of other costumers tonight there’s no real werewolves”

Angela mock pouted with a sigh “oh come on, don’t take the fun out of it” 

“Sorry, but for real don’t take much merit into that story. As fun as it is sometimes neighborhood dogs get hurt because of it. Anyway if it’s alright and the interview is done I’m gonna steal Patrick back so we can go to the Ferris wheel” 

“Sure, that’s a wrap Hudson” the cameraman seemed relieved at that “thanks for the interview, almost everyone either hams it up to the point I hate it or they’re too drunk to answer” 

“No problem” both boys smiled 

“Is the werewolf story really that bad?” Angela’s smile was a little nervous now 

“Unfortunately but let’s not ruin the night with a sad story. Have a nice night you two” Ray pulled Patrick along with him. 

*

“You’re not scared of heights are you?” Ray teased as the bar lowered for them.

Patrick rolled his eyes but gripped the safety bar still “no, but I don’t think falling into a crowd of drunk Halloween people is ideal” 

Ray laughed and the ride jerked a little as it began to rise, now that they were higher than the city square Patrick’s breath was taken away; it was genuinely beautiful, the lights and decorations made it look like some kind of surreal Halloween dream. Honestly, Warren Valley was pretty nice, the stores were little and had a kind of small-town feel to them and watching the town get ready for Halloween was fun he’d admit; overall despite the shit that had happened to him today he was having a great time and really, he was glad he came out to Ohio. 

“Thanks” 

Ray looked at him confused “for the Ferris ride?”

“No for being nice and not just telling me to fuck off in the store, and for being a good person” 

“Oh dude, you don’t have to thank me. I’m just glad you could have a good night after all, no one should feel bummed out on Halloween” Ray smiled shyly.

Patrick nodded but he meant the thanks regardless “this place seems pretty cool, it’s a little funny how all-out it goes with Halloween though” 

“It is, I didn’t live here my whole life I’m not sure if I told you that. When we moved here my parents were kind of weirded out how crazy the place gets over Halloween, I just remember being super fuckin’ happy over all the candy I got” 

“I hope Mikey had a good Halloween” Patrick mumbled then frowned and squinted at something on the horizon “hey what’s that?” 

“What’s what? Oh that tower over there, it’s just where edgy teens go when they wanna be cool. Here, if you look over there and you can’t really see it but over there is the starting path to the quarry, it goes right past the water tower and a little ways away from there is the quarry itself” 

Patrick frowned and felt a shiver crawl up his spine “yikes, can’t add any more to this horror story” 

It was then the Ferris wheel jerked making both boys scream then laugh, they weren't the only ones that had been spooked by it and almost all the carts were laughing; when they reached the ground again the two went and grabbed the caramel apples Patrick had forgotten to grab, they found a bench and chilled out on it before Ray came up with their next plan. There was a park somewhere with one of those outdoor movie projectors happening, they were playing different Halloween themed movies so of course, the two were going to go just to laugh or scream; the walk was a little long but before they’d shown up Ray made sure they bought some water bottles from stands around and some snacks. There was an open blanket spot near the far back but the screen was huge enough that the weird murderous puppet on screen was clear enough to see, Patrick snorted when the creature did a flip towards their victim and Ray was full-on laughing. 

The movie finished and soon they were playing _Halloween II,_ at first Patrick thought it was the movie that the screams were coming from but his morbid glee started to turn into worry as he looked over his shoulder back towards town realizing that those screams were coming from _there_ and not just the movie. He shook Ray’s arm asking about it but the other boy brushed it off telling him it was just the movie, again Patrick shook his arm and Ray glared annoyed but insisted still it was just the movie; it was then that hell broke loose not in the town but by the people in front of them, the screams were bone-chilling and when both boys looked forward they saw people jumping up and running. Ray hauled Patrick up with him, through the crowds the two could see what looked like a dead body lying in the grass with a large dark pool forming around it and the movie screen had a tear in it like the figure had fallen through it.

“What the hell! What kind of joke is this?” someone shouted as people shoved them aside. 

“Call an ambulance! I think that person’s dead!” another shouted. 

Patrick was roughly knocked to the ground by someone running, when he looked back up there was a flurry of people but no Ray in sight. He managed to get up again and ran away from the center of town, behind he heard sirens and glanced over his shoulder to see a police car pulled up along the street while several people were pointing in hysterics. Patrick skidded to a half stop once he was sure he was alright, there were still a few people running ahead of him now and a few people were sticking their heads out their doors asking what was going on; with a shaky sigh he sat down on the side of the street and pulled out his phone to call Ray. It was worrying when he didn’t pick up and went to voicemail, maybe he was still running though or was caught up with someone trying to find out what was going on.

“Hey Ray, I’m okay, I saw some cop car pull up so I don’t know if that person was a fucked up prank or the real deal and after learning that lady died I’m kind of scared. I think I’m gonna walk to the Dollar Tree, I’ll wait out there for you” 

On the plus side Warren Valley showed up on maps so after finding the right way to Dollar Tree Patrick started walking again.

* * *

The store was dark save for some creepy backlights in the freezer section, Patrick had situated himself between one of those newspaper boxes and a lamp post huddling in on himself as now the night seemed to be getting colder. A few cars had driven by but otherwise Patrick was completely alone, at one point he’d taken his wings off and put them in front of him like a make-shift shield against the cold; it was as effective as you’d expect but at least his legs were semi-warm, he rubbed at his arms and barely noticed the sound of footsteps until he heard a faint “hey”.

Patrick jumped causing his wings to fall and get blown slightly away by the wind “oh-uh, hi? Hi” 

The guy was dressed in pure white that was nearly soaked with what Patrick hoped was fake blood, he took a drag of his cigarette before looking back down at him.

“What are you doing out here? Store closed a while ago”

“Um, waiting for a friend…” 

The guy nodded then stubbed his cigarette out on the lamp post “cool, I am too. Mind if I stick around?” 

“No, don’t mind at all” 

“Thanks” he sat down “I’m Violet, if you laugh I’ll kick your ass” 

Patrick held his hands up in defense, jeez hell of an introduction huh? “It’s-it’s cool dude. Um, I’m Vaughn” really? _Vaughn?_

“Yeah your name sucks more than mine” Violet gave him a pretty unfriendly smirk “so when’s your friend showing up? Maybe I know them, what’s their name?” 

“um-Grace, I didn't catch her last name though. It’s more of an I know her sister and came out to chill out with her and her friends” Patrick tried to not wince at that, he looked like a babyface for fuck’s sake and he was out hanging out with a group of girls? 

Violet seemed to have that exact thought based on the rather skeezy grin “oh yeah? So what, they ditched you for some bigger guys?” 

“I’m gay” Violet’s grin was wiped away instantly for a blank slate look “if you _have_ to know, my sister was friend’s with Grace and she offered to let me come out to Ohio and see how crazy Halloween got here” 

“Okay sorry, I don’t need your life's story” Violet wrinkled his nose then spit on the sidewalk “yeah I’ve seen her, she’s pretty weird. She and her sister and their friends are a cult I’m pretty sure, either that or they’re vampires” 

“You imagine too much” Violet laughed and smirked at Patrick “a cult sounds more believable since this town seems small. What makes you think they’re a cult anyway?”

“Or _vampires_ I said, and you probably didn’t get a good look but all of them wear chokers. I thought it was just a fashion choice which sure, it’s fine, but they act weird when someone brings them up. It's a cult thing I bet, some kind of signal to other members that they’re around” 

“Like children of the corn or something?” now he’d scooted a little bit away, would it be obvious that he was panicking if he tried texting Ray? 

“Sure, why not” now Violet’s attitude had switched from joking to snide, jeez what preemptive thoughts did he have about Patrick? “So you have a boyfriend then?” 

“Nice topic change...and no, I don’t” 

The other boy just let out a thoughtful hum that border-lined accusing almost, what was his deal? “That sucks, you’re pretty cute looking. Sure you’re not trying to just save my feelings?”

_Switch the subject Stump, switch it!_ “Why are you covered in blood?” 

“Because I went to a morgue” Violet snorted then rolled his eyes “it’s fucking Halloween, me and my dipshit boyfriend wanted to pull a prank on this group of people watching a movie. I guess it really backfired though because the cops showed up and we had to explain it was just meant to be an elaborate prank”

Prickles crawled their way up Patricks’ spine then, _this_ asshole was the reason he’d lost Ray? All those people had been genuinely scared-!

“It was stupid I know okay? I guess we both just figured that people would realize it was a Halloween joke” Violet kicked the concrete and sent a few rocks flying “well why are you dressed up as an angel?” 

“Grace thought it’d look cute on me, I didn’t have any Halloween costume ideas” way to be on the nose for lies Stump.

Violet criticized him then for a few moments before shrugging “okay, cool I guess. So is Grace coming to get you then?” 

“No-a friend is, a mutual friend I mean” shit the way Patrick frantically answered had Violet obviously suspicious now 

“Ri-i-i-ight, okay. What’s the mutual friend’s name?” 

“I didn’t ask her, stupid I know but I trust Grace” Patrick shifted around again and stared over at his discarded wings as if they could be some kind of shield “that prank does sound stupid, I was watching a movie with some friends and everyone got scared and ran. You know there was a murder earlier tonight? People probably thought it was the killer again” 

“Way to guilt trip me asshole” Violet snarled and stood up fast, Patrick himself scrambled up but now Violet was yelling at the wall “it wasn’t _my_ idea to fucking scare people for no reason, I was thinking we could just let my dog run off and shout about the stupid werewolf story but _no-o-o-o_ my fucking boyfriend is still hung up on-it doesn't matter” 

Patrick had inched away and checked his phone during the little breakdown, Ray still hadn’t texted back and now the boy was debating on just running “sorry, guilt-tripping wasn’t my intention, anyway my friend just texted and I’m going to have to walk back so I gotta go” 

*  
  


He didn’t wait for a response, instead running to his left down the street back towards the neighborhoods; Patrick didn’t stop until he was convinced that he was far enough that Violet had at least lost him somehow (and also if there was any neighborhood watch that he was getting them called on him). He leaned against a tree to try and catch his breath now that he was sure he was fine, Halloween night mixed with asthma was a sure-fire way that he was-and might be-having an asthma attack at some point; he was having more exercise than he had in gym than ever in high school. A twig snapping to his right made him jump and turn quickly, almost slipping on the grass.

“Sam?” Sure enough, it was the little scarecrow kid, how in the _hell_ was he found Patrick again? “How-what-where did you go?” 

He waddled up to Patrick and held up his bag, did it have weird dark stains before? Patrick felt a little uneasy but decided it must have just for Halloween effect and knelt.

“Ray said you walked away with someone, was that your family?” Sam nodded “you should’ve told me you were leaving, I got worried something bad happened to you” 

Sam just nodded again, he wasn’t too talkative was he? 

Patrick sighed and stood back up, holding his hand out for Sam to take “well let’s take you home then, it’s getting pretty late now” 

Sam took his hand and followed, Patrick wasn’t really sure how he was going to find Sam’s house but it wasn’t that hard to see a giant dilapidated looking house. Another wandering trip then; it wasn’t too bad since there are still plenty of trick-or-treaters out and Patrick let Sam run-up to a few houses, however, it was when they were at a jack-o-lantern covered house that he realized he and Sam were being followed. It hadn’t been an immediate thing though, it was when Sam had pulled Patrick with him up to a house where a guy dressed as a chicken had frowned and asked if Patrick’s family knew how to park a car or if they were driving that slow on purpose. The boy had managed not to look behind him and said that he and Sam were actually walking and he wasn’t related to whoever was in the car, with a quick goodbye Patrick picked Sam up and started speed walking down the street. 

It _had_ to look shady as he quickly jumped into a bush with Sam, he curled his arms around the kid a little more as he waited and sure enough the car trailing them drove by- _Gerard’s_ car to be exact. Great, how the hell had he found Patrick _now_? There was no way his previous theory that his ex was just aimlessly driving around was real, someone had to be saying where he was. Well, this time the driving around theory made sense, Patrick thought as he watched the car disappeared and waited for a bit before coming out; he glanced around seeing no sign of it before kneeling in front of Sam. 

“Okay bud, I don’t know where your house is really and that car you saw has a really bad person in it. We need to get you home _now_ so I can get home myself, lead the way?” 

The gears seemed to be turning in the kid’s head before he nodded and grabbed Patrick’s hand again with his strange strength, the older boy was scared and kept glancing around expecting Gerard’s car to just show up but his fear switched to a new topic when he realized Sam had taken him to the path going to the gravesite. 

“wha-Sam you live in a big house, why did you take me here?” he looked down at the kid who was just looking back up at him “Sam this isn’t funny, if you’re playing a prank or something it needs to stop-”

“Sam?” Patrick tensed and looked down the path, was there a voice? “Sam! Where are you?” 

He blinked and looked back at the kid again, now he was looking down the path as well.

“Sam!” now there was the faint outline of a figure, they stopped before running over making Patrick jump away as they scooped Sam up “Sam! Oh my god, don’t run away from me like that!” 

“Uh” was this Sam’s brother? 

The guy stood up shifting Sam around in his arms and looked at Patrick for a few seconds with a sort of doll-like blank face. 

“Oh, hi, sorry. I just saw Sam and kinda tunnel-visioned” now that Patrick could see him a little better he saw the guy had skeleton makeup that was disturbingly impressive, almost like his skin was translucent

“It’s fine” was it the street lamp or was this guy’s eyes glowing? “Um, are you Sam’s brother? He kinda, earlier tonight he um, we went trick-or-treating” 

“Oh” skeleton guy blinked before he seemed to remember what social cues were and gave a small smile “yeah, um, yeah I’m his brother. Thank you for that, taking him out I mean, mom and dad are okay with him just going around on his own but I still get worried” 

“No problem, he was a great kid” skeleton guy was kind of pretty the more Patrick looked at him-wait no, bad Patrick “I was trying to take him home but I guess he knew you were out here looking for him. Sorry for not remembering the address...I’m Patrick” 

“Pete and it’s okay Patrick” his smile grew a little and he turned to look at Sam “have you been causing trouble again?” 

Sam shook his head then leaned closer to Pete’s ear and seemed to whisper, maybe he could talk after all. 

Pete frowned at whatever Sam said and looked at Patrick with a concerned look “you’re being stalked?” 

“No I-well sort of...um, it’s a long story” he felt his cheeks turn red and sighed rubbing the back of his neck “to summarize it my ex isn't handling our breakup that well and he’s trying to stalk me now I guess”

“Oh what a creep. Do you have anywhere to go? You can stay at our place if you need to” 

“No no, I don’t wanna intrude” even though he’d just offered, Patrick still felt like it was weird to have a stranger at your house 

Pete smiled again though and shrugged “I wouldn’t mind but actually I kind of wanted to stay out a little longer, walk home with me? I need to drop Sam off anyway, it’s getting past his bedtime. Maybe we can hang out if that’s cool with you” 

Was Patrick really about to say yes to that? Ray didn’t know where he was, he’d forgotten to even text him, Gerard was stalking around the town trying to find him and at this point, Patrick wouldn't have been surprised if Violet showed back up somehow. 

Yea, he was going to hang out with the cute skeleton boy. 

*

It was a surprise that the two of them hit it off so well, Sam had either fallen asleep on Pete’s shoulder or was just quiet (not unusual) as they walked and when they reached the right house Patrick had to wait outside for Pete to take Sam inside. It looked strange he was sure, someone in an angel costume just standing outside the fence of a house that looked like murders happened in it, regardless Patrick rocked back and forth on his heels looking around the quiet neighborhood. He jumped when the door slammed and Pete more or less skipped over to the fence. 

“Hey, mom wanted to thank you for watching Sam tonight. So since I know for a fact the festival is still going on do you wanna go there?” 

Patrick debated then shook his head slightly “um, actually someone pulled a really screwed up prank earlier and I’m not sure if there are still cops there or not. Also it’s a little too crowded for my liking, is it..is it okay if we go somewhere else?” 

Pete seemed to muse this, nodding his head eventually and taking Patrick’s hand “we can walk around town if you want, there’s a park too that we could go sit at but we’d probably look suspicious” 

“You know the town better than me, I’ll just follow you” Patrick tried smiling but it was hard to not notice that Pete felt freezing 

Pete laughed, it was a nice laugh “Okay, I know this place that a lot of teens and college kids hang out at, it is kind of close to quarry though so if that scares you we don’t have to” 

Patrick swallowed dryly “um, is it the gravesite?”

“No” he flinched at how angry Pete sounded, the other boy’s face softened though “no, not there. Sorry, just, it’s okay I guess to stay at a graveyard but that gravesite is of the kids that died around here a while ago. It’s more respectful to not be there” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think…” 

Pete squeezed his hand in what Patrick hoped was accepting his apology and started pulling him along down the sidewalk, new adventures now. They kept up bantering and talking during the walk, Patrick found out Pete liked music like him but a few artists he brought up apparently Pete didn’t know. 

“Small town living I guess” Pete had given a tight smile and Patrick felt guilty for being confused “hey don’t feel bad, you’re not the only person that gets confused about small-town living. I used to live in Chicago actually, we moved here after my dad decided the city was too much for us” 

“I like Warre Valley but I’m not sure if I could live here” Patrick hesitated when they reached the path again “um, do you have a flashlight?” 

“Scared of the dark?” Pete joked but pulled out a flashlight from his pocket, when did he get that? “Don’t worry, there are no monsters in the dark” 

“There’s werewolves apparently” 

“Oh jeez, do you know where that story came from?” Pete’s smile was mischievous, Patrick wondered what story he was in for “back in the early beginnings of Warren Valley people started to suspect a witch or someone had put a curse on a family. It started when farm animals started disappearing and soon people did too, finally, someone accused this farmer’s wife of being a werewolf and the whole town believed them but when they went to find the farmer’s wife the whole place was on fire. Supposedly now werewolves are still running around Warren Valley, ready to bite and kill whatever guy messes with them” 

Well, that...wasn’t quite what he’d expected. 

“So people think werewolves are running around tonight?” 

Pete nodded “really I think it was just the usual asshole got rejected or something so they started rumors to ruin a family” 

Patrick hummed in agreement, that usually was how stories started. 

Apparently the place Pete wanted to take him to was a place above the quarry, nearby was an elevator that went down but he assured Patrick they weren’t going down. There was a tree that seemed to have grown to perfectly allow people to sit comfortably against it in a sort of concave area, Pete flopped down and looked up at Patrick until he sat beside him. 

“So why’d you come out here?” Pete asked after a few seconds of silence 

Patrick winced and stared at his shoes “Um...well I guess I could tell you why my ex is stalking me now” 

Pete frowned and reached over to take Patrick’s hand, he was kinda touchy, wasn’t he? “Hey if you’re not comfortable with it you don’t have to, we can just talk about something else” 

“No, it’s fine. Gerard-that’s his name, he offered to let me come out here to spend Halloween with him and I thought it would be great because all eighteen-year-olds think they know everything. I spent the day with him and well his little brother was the one to rat him out that he was cheating on me” 

Pete frowned at that “are you fucking serious? That’s so shitty, did he think you weren’t going to find out? Wait, what are you going to do now? I mean where are you staying” 

  
“A girl at the Dollar Tree offered to let me crash at her place, in the morning I’ll figure out what to do” Patrick kicked at the leaves and sighed “my fault for thinking Gerard actually liked me, he showed up while I was at a friend’s place and kept telling me _I_ was being unreasonable. Then he made the threat that we weren’t over and we're going to talk anyway...sorry Pete, I didn’t mean to get all down” 

“You’ve got the right to be upset, he cheated on you. His mistake honestly, you’re a pretty cool kid” 

Patrick huffed and glared “I’m _not_ a kid, I’m eighteen” 

“Twenty two” Pete grinned and nudged him with his elbow “sorry but anyone younger than twenty in my mind is a kid” 

“You’re an ass” shit was that okay? 

Pete laughed and shoved at Patrick “same to you, but you’re cute so I’ll let it go” 

That got a blush from Patrick “shut the hell up” 

“What? I’m serious, I think you’re cute. On a more shallow level your ex fucked up both because you’re a cool person and also you’re cute” Pete squeezed his hand again sending a weird tingle up Patrick’s arm

“You sound like you're trying to swoon me” Patrick glanced down at their hands then back up at Pete “are you?” 

“I mean that wasn’t my idea at first but I'm just gonna stop talking now” Pete giggled slightly hysterically and looked away “hey, let’s go look at some cool stuff huh?” 

  
“I-what? Pete hey!” Patrick scrambled after him, way to change a subject “hey! You said we weren’t going down to the quarry” 

“I wanna show you something” Pete stopped to let him catch up and grabbed Patrick’s hand pulling him into the elevator “it’s going to creak but I promise it’s safe” 

“If I die because of an elevator in Ohio I’m going to haunt you” Patrick grumbled, he squealed and grabbed onto Pete when it started moving down “how is this thing still moving?” 

“They do maintenance on it just to make sure it still moves” Pete pulled away from Patrick just to pull him closer again with his arms around Patrick’s waist “it’ll be fine, I promise” 

He just blushed and stared down at the fog covered ground, so now he had a cute boy holding him while they were in a death trap elevator, what a nice Halloween. The elevator groaned as they finally reached the ground, the fog was less dense on the ground but now that Patrick could see a lake his imagination was running wild with dead bodies leaving the lake to Pete planning on drowning him. Speaking of he was now being pulled over to the water and immediately Patrick shoved away from Pete, stumbling back and almost falling to the ground. 

“What the hell Pete? Are you trying to drown me or something?” 

  
“No! Do I come off as the murderous type to you?” Pete looked genuinely offended but what exactly did he think would happen when he started dragging Patrick towards the water “I-okay fucking, yeah now that I think about it yeah it’s weird just taking you to the water with no explanation” 

“No shit” Patrick was still freaked out but walked a few steps closer again before stopping “what did you want to show me?” 

Pete looked like he was blushing but it was a little hard to see with the lack of light “um...okay so I actually wanted to ask if we could make out? God that sounds so creepy now that I ask it, look you're really cute and I was hoping maybe after you mentioned me trying to swoon you that maybe we could kiss or something and it sounds so weird but I like making out in the water? I’m sorry I probably made you really uncomfortable now, let’s just go back up and I can leave you alone” 

That took a few seconds to process; cute boy wanted to kiss him, cute buy was now offering to take Patrick back to town because he didn't want to make him uncomfortable, also cute boy wanted to make out in the water…

“Is it clean?” 

Pete looked confused for a second before realizing and nodding “I wouldn’t have brought you down here if I knew it wasn't”  
  


“There’s still the chance that it’s dirty and you don’t even know it” Patrick awkwardly took Pete’s hand though and squeezed it “but um, if you’re sure...then lead the way?” 

The water was fucking cold, Patrick had squeaked when he’d slipped in with Pete but the older boy had held onto his waist to keep him steady and had laughed when Patrick scowled at him. He crowded Patrick against the bank and leaned over Patrick while he lay back against the also freezing cold mud. This wasn’t something Patrick never thought he’d do, he was 18 so yeah he’d fooled around before but Gerard had been the only person Patrick had ever been steady with, he didn’t think he’d ever be half in a lake with a cute guy half looming over him; something that was bothering him now though was that Pete seemed to be getting colder and...smelling weird, he didn’t have long to think about when Pete leaned down and pressed his lips to Patrick’s. 

_Jeez_ even Pete’s lips were freezing! They were nice though, soft and making Patrick’s head spin with the way Pete would sometimes bite his lip teasingly until Patrick opened his mouth. When Pete’s tongue slipped in and played with Patrick’s a glaringly obvious thing was the other boy’s mouth tasted almost disgustingly sweet like he’d been eating a whole bag of candy corn almost; Patrick reached up and gently tangled his fingers into Pete’s short hair, he shivered when Pete pressed his waist closer to Patrick’s and embarrassingly he started to press back against him until there was something in his peripheral vision. He broke the kiss and turned to look at it, immediately he regretted it upon seeing that it was a half-drowned school bus. 

“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the _fuck”_ Patrick pushed away attempting to push Pete back but he was currently kissing along Patrick’s neck “Pete will you fucking look!” 

“What, what are-” he went quiet then and his hold on Patrick’s waist loosened so the younger boy was able to crawl onto the shore. 

“What the _fuck_ Pete how did we not see that? Oh my god, there’s-we were making out in dead body water-I think I’m gonna be sick” Patrick was shivering now, whether from the cold or not he wasn’t sure “oh my god can we go, please? Fuck I need a bath or shower or something...Pete?” 

He was still standing in the water now just staring at the school bus, when he finally looked at Patrick again he didn’t...look quite as alive anymore, Patrick swallowed weakly and started scooting away; no it was just because it was dark, that was why Pete wasn’t looking alive anymore and...and why the skeleton makeup was starting to look more real, that was why he looked so terrifying. Again he said Pete’s name weakly, this time the boy reacted by crawling out of the water after Patrick and standing up, pulling the younger with him and walking slowly towards the elevator. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see that yesterday. I guess the water pushed it up” Pete’s voice sounded wrong too, that weird smell from before was worse now “let’s get you back to town okay? You should text your friend” 

“R-right, shit I haven't even told him where I’ve been” Patrick bent down and picked up his phone from the ground, Ray still hadn’t called back or texted making Patrick worry but he sent a quick text of his own hoping he’d respond “why was there a school bus in the lake?” 

“Don’t you know?” Pete turned to look at him, Patrick kept telling himself it was the dark that made Pete look like a walking corpse “some parents wanted to kill their kids so they sent them to the quarry where the bus driver was supposed to leave them to die, that didn't happen though. One of the kids, well actually he was in college, he knocked the bus driver out and tried driving back to town but ended up killing everyone. Only the shitty bus driver lived and he lied about what happened” 

The story Ray and Cody told him, right “we were making out in a lake where dead kids were” 

“I’m sorry Patrick, I thought they’d dredged the place back then” Pete reached up and brushed his hand against Patrick’s cheek, the smaller boy recoiled because now the weird smell borderline _rotting_ “do you know the other part of the story though?” 

“Other...other part?” the elevator wasn’t moving fast enough suddenly and now Patrick didn't feel so safe with Pete anymore “what other part” 

“On Halloween, there’s this tradition some people do. They bring out ten jack-o-lanterns to honor the kids’ deaths” Pete had fully turned to face him now, it couldn’t have been Patrick’s imagination that now he was looking like a water-logged dead body “sometimes though kids are stupid and go missing around here...there’s rumors that the dead kids come up and eat them” 

“You’re not being funny” Patrick’s voice cracked as he pressed himself against the gate, finally when the elevator stopped he all but tripped to get out but still stopped and turned around “Pete you’re not being funny and-and let’s just go back okay? Please?” 

Pete didn’t move, at least not at first, but when he did it was with strange jerking motions until he was right in front of Patrick “I really like you, Patrick...do you, would it be too much to ask you to...stay here? With me?” 

He blinked, what? “I-in the quarry right now or in Warren Valley? I don’t even know you that well Pete…” 

The other boy’s smile looked sad and he reached up to cup Patrick’s face, the smell was gone now and Pete looked normal-ish again “we could get to know each other...you could stay here with me, I really liked kissing you like that” 

Patrick didn’t know what was going on or what he was supposed to be thinking, he started to open his mouth to say something when a pair of flashlights suddenly shined on the two blinding him. 

“You’re fucking slutting it up?” fuck, he knew that voice, sure enough Gerard was standing there with Violet by his side “so you break up with me and then go move on that fast huh?” 

“Who the fuck is this?” Pete let go of his face but grabbed his arm instead “you’re the ex?” 

“I’m not his ex” Gerard snapped, next to him Violet (who Patrick was now suspecting to be Frank) looked confused “we’re just fighting right now. Who the fuck are you exactly?” 

“A friend, what do you want” Pete had moved to stand in front of Patrick now

Gerard growled and stepped closer, to Patrick’s horror he had a knife “well Patrick’s friend, he and me need to go for a little talk. Why don’t you and Franky hang out for a bit together?” 

“Whoa, what the hell? That was not what you said we were doing out here” Frank (yep, Patrick had been right) moved to stand in front of Gerard now “you said we were just coming out here to prove that your ex was a slut or whatever, you didn't say anything about talking or stuff. Plus you said you broke up with him” 

There was a brief look of panic on Gerard’s face before he scowled “just fucking grab Patrick” 

“Whatever” Frank turned towards the other two and smiled unkindly “c’mon, _Patrick_ , your boyfriend wants to talk to you” 

He ran at the two fast before either could react, ramming into the two of them and falling with them; Patrick cried out in pain as Frank grabbed him by his hair and forced him to stand, he started to drag Patrick away when Pete launched himself at Frank causing him to drop Patrick to the ground and fall himself. The first crunching sound hadn’t registered but the scream Frank let out did, to Patrick’s horror when he looked over Pete was literally tearing into Frank, broken ribs were sticking up while Pete was tearing and ripping apart organs. Patrick screamed and shot up from the ground running, Gerard was frozen and didn’t even seem to notice him run by at first; behind Patrick the sick wet crunching sounds followed him until he was on the pitch dark path, adrenaline and fear spurring him on until he was knocked down by a body tackling him. 

Gerard pinned him down and held the knife against his throat “Frank’s dead! Your fucking-that guy killed him! What kind of sick fucking game is this Patrick? You’re fucking serial killers now?” 

“Get the fuck off me!” he tried wriggling only for the blade to press harder against his skin “what the fuck are you doing with a knife! You said you wanted to talk!” 

“You broke up with me, you broke my fucking heart, and now your new boy toy just fucking killed my boyfriend!” he pulled Patrick’s head up to the point of cutting off oxygen and started to cut into his skin “I’m gonna fucking kill you too, see how your psycho likes it!”

That didn’t happen though, instead there was the sound of loud footsteps coming from the left and a large something smashed into Gerard knocking him off Patrick; he gasped and grabbed at his neck feeling blood running down, Gerard was screaming bloody murder along with the sounds of tearing and ripping. Without his glasses it wasn’t clear what was going on but it looked like a large dog or wolf was attacking Gerard, Patrick didn’t want to stick around for that thing to chase him and hurried down the path again. He almost cried with relief when he finally reached the path, tripping and falling to his knees where he stayed, what the _fuck_ just happened? Behind him, he heard a noise but Patrick was so exhausted that if whatever that was was a coyote or a rabid dog he didn’t care if it killed him-

“Patrick?” he looked back to see Pete, once again looking like a normal-ish skeleton “your glasses fell off…” 

“Are you going to kill me?” there wasn't any blood on his clothes, but then again Pete didn’t look like a zombie right now 

He flinched and walked over carefully, offering the said fallen glasses “no, no I...I’m sorry, that was terrifying I’m sure I just wanted...I didn’t want you to get hurt” 

Patrick sniffled and stood on shaky legs, he took his glasses and wiped them best he could on his chest “what are you?” 

Pete only smiled at him sadly stepping closer and leaning down to press a quick kiss to Patrick’s lips “a ghost I guess, or a zombie. I really like you, Patrick, that’s why I wanted to kiss you...it’s late, you should really go now, go back home to Illinois” 

“I’m going to need therapy for this” Patrick felt a weird sense of sadness wash over him “I won’t...I’m not going to see you again am I? When you say you’re a ghost...you’re one of the drowned kids” 

Pete nodded “I tried stopping the bus, guess all I did was trap our souls here” 

“What-then what about Sam?” 

Another sad smile and another quick kiss “Samhain, look for what that means...thank you, for letting me kiss you I mean. And letting me have a nice Halloween, goodbye Patrick” 

Pete slowly melted into the shadows leaving Patrick standing there alone, the boy stared off into the dark for a bit longer before a car horn nearly gave him a heart attack. 

“Hey are you Patrick?” a girl was leaning out of a van, a few others were sitting in the back peering at him “I’m Layla, Grace said you’d be out here” 

“I-yeah I’m Patrick, how did Grace know I’m here?” 

That was answered by Grace herself emerging from behind Patrick and smiling at him “hey sorry, I was out on a walk and saw you. Where’d your friend go?” 

Patrick stared at her for a few seconds before shrugging “he um, had to go...what happened to your costume?” 

The outfit was a little red riding hood costume but it appeared to have a few red stains and a ripped up cloak “oh that, I was just being clumsy and fell into some dirt and ripped the cape up”

Patrick just decided to accept that explanation, tomorrow he’d be figuring out how to get back to Illinois but for now, he was sitting in a van with some nice girls chatting around and offering him some snacks; when they arrived at Layla’s house it turned out that Ray had to go back to Gerard’s place and take care of Mikey for him, Patrick felt sick knowing that neither Gerard nor Frank were ever going to be seen again but while the girls were all getting ready for bed upstairs Patrick had pulled out his phone to see what Samhain meant:

**Sa** * **mhain**

**A Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of “dark season”, celebrated from October 31st to November 1st.**


End file.
